Old Vanilla Guy Sayin' Hi - and some ?'s

[Fligg]

Heya party people. Heard some great stuff about Warmane on youtube and reddit after trying to see if the private server scene was worth any looking into. Turns out in certain cases it is.

Last time I played WoW was in Vanilla right when BWL patch was released. Furthest I ever got was the second boss in BWL. Then I stopped playing because I was in college and it was eating up too much time that I felt needed to be spent elsewhere. It's been about 20 years since then. I still have followed the storyline that the devs have charted for WoW, as well as the many changes (for better and worse) which have been implemented in the game. But ultimately I decided that retail was not for me, but neither was classic. The former has taken all of the substance out of the progression which made the game what it is, and the latter seemed to return to the game's origins just to go through the same motions again with classic expansions (unless you count SoD, but im not sure that's what I want either).

What I'm looking for is the leveling experience of classic WoW with the added expansions of TBC and WotLK. The Warmane servers are clearly the place to go for this experience. I never got to experience these expansions, and they look cool in terms of the story they bring (I know that they also technically marked the beginning of the linear "railroading" experience which would become more and more prominent with each subsequent expansion, but from everything I've heard they do it in relative moderation). I am not what you'd call a "hardcore" player, because I'm not interested in dedicating more than 10-15 hours a week to playtime. However, I'm also not a strictly casual player because I'm not interested in being in a guild where everyone is leveling at 7x speed. I can tolerate this at the level of the server community at larege, so long as there are guilds which move through the leveling experience at the 1x rate with friendly players. I like a bit of a challenge, but I do not want to grind my way through it. A little grinding is fine, I suppose. But I'm not interested in spending hours of my spare time doing "work," if you catch my meaning. I think whether you are talking about questing or gearing for endgame content, or the raids themselves, WoW should mainly be focused upon tests of skill and focus, not tests of sheer available playtime. For anyone who was around when WoW first came out, they know that character progression gained through questing itself (and quests which had some story behind them) was what separated WoW from the MMO pack.

At the moment I've spent the past few days leveling a Warlock on Lordaeron. However, after hearing about what seems to be an incredibly steep level of difficulty regarding gearing and prepping for endgame raiding content on this server, I'm contemplating making a char on Icecrown or Onyxia. But I think I need a little guidance regarding this decision, and there is clearly some controversy concerning whether Lordaeron or these other two servers are preferable. From what I've heard and experienced so far, 1x leveling rate makes Lordaeron a good server for someone who wants to experience the classic leveling experience. However, I've more recently heard that getting through endgame raid content on Lordaeron is a gargantuan task. It can take months just to get through 1-2 bosses in Icecrown, because the age of the server and its elevated level of raid difficulty make it so that bosses require your entire raid to be in absolutely tip-top shape, which in turn requires months of regular and consistent raiding. Unfortunately, though I am interested in the challenge of endgame content, I'm not interested in blocking off my weekends for months and months on end just to meet that challenge.

Another to note is that, whether I choose to continue on Lordaeron or move, I am interested in having a social experience and leveling with other players in a guild working at 1x rate. I want to move through at classic WoW speeds and I want to do it mainly in groups (I don't mind soloing sometimes). Even if I'm not grouped up, I'd like to just have people to chat with sometimes while I solo through my class quests or profession stuff. So if there are not guilds on Icecrown or Onyxia who like to level through together at 1x rate, then that is also a demerit against those servers in my eyes. I don't care about doing endgame content with a guild if that guild is plowing through the rest of the game like a speed-run of Super Mario 3.

So I'm trying to say hey, and get to know some peeps here, as well as ask you all what server you recommend, if you have the time to think about it. Thanks for havin me on Warmane.

[Repost]

Welcome to Warmane.

I recommend checking the recruitment sections of the forums to get an idea of the type of guilds on each realm. Not all guilds advertise on the forums but you should find a decent sample size.

[Maldon]

Welcome!

We have a similar backstory then. I use to play Vanilla as well and finished when TBC came out. I was more of a PvP player then, had a lvl 60 dwarf hunter. But I totally agree with not wanting to grind as the spare time that I have is scarce. Good luck and have fun!

[Fligg]

Interesting. I also was into PvP, but couldn't find the time to grind out the PvP gear. In fact, BiS gear was always a little bit of a problem for me because I didn't go about it as strategically as others did.

I've decided that the best thing to do is to remain on Lordaeron, because the leveling experience is 1x for everyone involved. Even if there are less low levels on the server, those players are going to be going through the leveling process at the same rate as me.

One hurdle that I have run into, though, is that much of the server's population seems to be playing on EU time zones while I'm on EST United States/Canada time. I usually log on around 7-8 PM (20:00) EST, but that is 12-1 AM server time. So the server is a bit short on pop around that time, not to say that its totally dead. It'd be nice to find a guild with a few players in my time zone that are in the leveling process. Or just a Discord community with that.

[sycamore]

go on on keybinds macros and addons invention and tweeking... and good luck on that too <3 ! where You playing ? Onyxia Aliance ?

[Fligg]

I'm Horde on Lordaeron